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December 25, 2011

A creative christmas: Tutorial Christmas scraps chain!

Merry Christmas from Berlin! This was our first 'Berlin with a hint of Aussie splashed in there' Christmas. Even though it was difficult being away from the friend and family unit we did manage to embrace some of the German Christmas traditions.

Our Aussie infused Berlin Christmas

1.Drinks - First on the list was Glühwein (natürlisch mit Schuss!).

2.Food - I cooked up a German vs. Aussie storm, Lebkuchen, Berliner Brot, Kipferln + Aussie rum balls. Germans seem to eat Geese at Christmas but we opted for the Turkey and roasted veges Aussie style.

3. Christmas tree - As you can see from the photos we bought a sweet little tree from around the corner and had a laugh whilst walking it home. Though we made the amateur mistake of treating it if it were a plastic tree. My German guests kindly advised me that I was doing it ALL wrong and that I needed to reassess my tree maintenance skills. Next time supply some water for the bloody thing.

4. Decorations - We had the traditional German window light display. Mandarin's punctured with cloves were scattered on the table. Aussie creatures, namely kangaroos, koalas and turtles were displayed in amongst the christmas tree branches.

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"Christmas scraps chain"

This year I wanted to spread a little Christmas cheer and make some decorations for our apartment. Looking over at my fabric scraps I decided to make a "Christmas scraps chain". It's pretty simple stuff. Here is how I did it.

1. Look through your fabric scraps

2. Cut your fabrics into roughly 18cm x 3.5 strips. Then press the sides (about 0.5 cm) inwards, like when you make bias tape. I used my new Bias tape tool.

If you don't have a bias tape tool and you want to try out a new method, you can perhaps check out this little tutorial from Creative Little Daisy

3. Make a lot of these little fellas with your scraps

4. After you have collected a few of your strips, sew the edges down, so that they are a little neater

5. With right sides together sew the fabric piece together to create a loop

6. Turn your loop, right sides out

7. Now get your next strip and place it through your loop

8.With right sides together sew the next loop together

9. Turn the loop so that the right sides are facing out

Keeping it neat

At this stage you can turn the joining edges of both loops so that they are facing each other. Notice in the photo below that you can not see the joins. With a few stitches, secure these pieces together on the join.

10. Continue looping your strips and sewing to create the chain

11. Sew loop

12. And you are finished!

13. Proudly hang it up!

I liked this project. I couldn't help but reflect upon my previous sewing ventures as each piece of the chain reminded me of particular garments. Gee I have learnt a lot! and I will continue to learn through 2012. Merry Christmas everyone. Spread the cheer! hope you had a good one.